Opinion: 'Legal' not the same as 'ethical'

You may think I only object when it’s government doing the bad things. Nope. An act isn’t wrong or right based only on who’s doing it.

Theft is wrong no matter whether you’re a burglar, a mugger, or a government tax collector “just doing his job.” To imagine it’s only wrong if it’s done by the government revenue employee is as crazy as saying it’s right because it’s called “taxation.”

The act is wrong in itself and no rules can make it right. Not even if those rules have been around for thousands of years. Time doesn’t magically change wrong into right.

The difference between a regular criminal and a government is an imaginary difference instilled in us from birth. This doesn’t make it true.

If it’s wrong for me to do it to my neighbor, it’s wrong for someone else to do it even if it’s in their job description.

I have no right to tell my neighbors what they can grow in their gardens or how darkly they can tint their car windows. I can’t hire someone to do things I have no right -- as an individual -- to do. A right doesn’t spring into existence if I gather a crowd who wants the power to do the same thing. My neighbors have the right to defend themselves if I try to force my will on them in this way.

Most people don’t like this reality. They want to justify violating others if they feel it is necessary. Especially if they can say it’s not up to them, but it’s “the law.”

Once upon a time, it was legal to act as though you owned another human being. People were legally required to kidnap an individual who escaped and return him to the person who pretended to own him. The law -- written and enforced by people who had no right to do so -- said this was right, but it never was.

Later, “the law” required businesses to serve people differently according to their “race.” They had to separate customers by skin color. It was “the law” and again, it was wrong to require this.

“Legal” never has meant “ethical.” What unethical things do you support today just because they are legal and you like them? Would you feel the same if the person committing the act wasn’t acting on behalf of government? Or, do you oppose wrong things being done no matter who is doing them?

Farwell’s Kent McManigal champions liberty. Contact him at:

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